Gaming Computer Parts For Beginners

             Looking to get a gaming computer for yourself or for someone else but can’t decide on what to look for? I am going to go over the basics on what you will need to look for in a gaming computer. I won’t be going over whether you should get a laptop or desktop here as I went over it in my last post, here I am going over the main parts that you will typically be looking at in a gaming rig. When looking into a gaming computer there are 3 main areas you will be generally be looking at, the GPU, CPU, RAM, and storage (Note that I’ll be going over Intel’s CPUs and NVIDIA graphics cards since these are the most common and I have the most experience with). Each part that you would want is determined by what you want to play.

Let’s start with the CPU. The CPUs that you would want are in the general field of an 10^th generation I5 for your low end. It’s the cheapest option and will get the job done to a certain level. Now if you’re looking on the high end a I7 is usually a great place to start but will increase the price depending on which generation it is. Another thing you should look at regardless the CPU is the frequency it can perform. A higher frequency means a faster processor and possibly a better performance.

For RAM most games recommend at least 16GB of RAM. This will give you enough to play almost every game. The minimum would be 8 GB, but this will cause your games to run slow when there’s a lot of actions happening at the same time. If you are planning on recording gameplay or streaming than 16GB will be the minimum. Now there are two types of RAM I would recommend if you decide on building your own rig, that would be DDR3 and DDR4. DDR3 is an older model of RAM but will get the job done and won’t cost as much as the newer DDR4.

Onto the most important part (in my opinion) the graphics card (GPU). The GPU is the work horse of your computer for gaming, and Video editing. This is where the type of game you want to play and at what settings you would want to see on a monitor. For a budget price GPU, you could get a GTX 980 series and for a mid-level budget there is the GTX1660 series of graphics card. These cards can give you mid to high detail visuals on your screen without digging too deep into your pocket. But if you’re looking for a better visual experience there are the GTX 1080s and the RTX series of graphics card. Depending on how many Gigabits the 1080s have it can cost you around $500 while the RTX series can run from $300 (RTX 2060) to over $1,000 (RTX 2080). The main difference between them is the RTX is newer and allows better dynamic lighting in some games. In my honest opinion if you’re not interested/care about dynamic lighting than I would go with the GTX series of graphics cards as they are more affordable and still gives you a great experience.

For storage its simple, how many games do you want on it. Here it depends on how many games you want installed on your computer. In general, you would want a minimum of 512GB SSD. The reason for this is because most games can run from 20GB of storage to 80GB or in the very rare case of 100GB. SSDs (solid state drives) are the go-to since they are generally faster the HDDs and if you drop it you have less of a chance of losing its memory. The speed means that you’ll be able to start up games faster. Now will all the components your looking from a $800-$900 gamine PC on the low end to around $1,200 for a mid-level gaming rig. But if you have the money and want to future proof your gaming PC (meaning not having to upgrade for at least 10yrs at best) than your looking into a minimum of $2k. Remember that this is only a beginner understanding into PC gaming and you should just look into what you need and not go for the most expensive or visually stimulating computer. You can go onto websites that can tell you the minimum and recommended specs if you’re not sure what you will need, like Game Debate.   

Desktop VS Laptop

Which should you get? This is a question many think about when deciding to buy a computer. There are many advantages in each one but there are also many disadvantages with each as well. Desktops allow for more customization and are in general better performing than laptops. Anther advantage is maintenance and repairs are easier since its easy to get to each component, depending on how the desktop was built. This also allows you to upgrade to better components down the line if you wish to continue using it. Now a downside to a desktop can be size and placement. What I mean is that you will need a small/large (depending on the size of the desktop) area. Price wise desktops and cost more than laptops if you need a heavy working rig, example any type of media editing. Laptops can perform the same as desktops to a certain point. Being smaller than desktops makes moving and placing them anywhere easy. Maintenance wise its minimal compare to desktops. You can only use compressed air to clean between the keys, unless you know how to take apart the laptop which can be difficult, and one mistake can cause permanent damage. Another downside is heating, laptops tend to heat up faster than desktops over a lengthy period or under a heavy workload. This can cause permanent damages to the CPU and data storage. Many other issues that laptops have usually deal with human error, like spilling water on it or dropping it. Repairing any damage part is possible but not very practical for a general user. The only repairs or upgrades a beginner can do is upgrading the RAM or changing your storage (HDD/SSD), depending on the type of laptop. Any other upgrade can be impossible since almost every other part is soldered onto the motherboard. Pricing can be like desktops depending on the type of workload it’s built for and its manufacturer. So, in all depends on what your looking for and the amount of work and money your willing to use. Decide on the purpose you need the computer for and a price range to limit yourself, so you don’t overspend on components you don’t need, and determine how mobile you want it to be.

Basic Water Cooling

Here I will talk about some basics about computer water cooling. Now water cooling is another way to keep some of your computer components cool under a heavy workload. The main components that this is used for is the CPU or the GPU (graphics card). Now why would you choose this instead of regular system fans. Well water cooling can keep your CPU/GPU cooler under heavy workloads than with traditional fans and at times it can keep your system quiet. There are two common types of water-cooling system to choose from, one is AIO (all in one), left and custom, right. AIO are closed systems with the liquid kept with in the entire system and not visible. Custom are what most people would think of in water cooling. The difference between them are pricing, some performance difference (depending on the application) and aesthetics. To know which one you want depends on how much you’re willing to spend and if your looking for more of an RGB looking systems. Also, you will need to think about how much maintenance your willing to do since custom water-cooling systems require maintenance about every 6 months depending on usage.